ICE Investigation Leads To Rescue of 44 Exploited Children

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WUSA) - An international operation by Homeland Security investigators at ICE has led to the direct rescue of 44 children from their sexual abusers.

Another 79 children exploited outside the home or who are now adults have also been identified. Andrea McCarren was at Thursday's ICE news conference and reports that 245 people were arrested in Operation Sunflower, the vast majority in the United States.

But there are still alleged pedophiles out there that, hopefully, our viewers can help identify. We do want to warn you, some of the details you're about to see are very disturbing.

Take a close look at these photographs-three men and a woman identified as sexual abusers of children who need to be taken off the streets. They're part of a startling trend in which the victims are younger and younger.

"A recent case that we did last year in Holland, the youngest victim was 19 days old," said John Morton of ICE.

Operation Sunflower earned its name after investigators tracked clues, including this highway sign, to rural Kansas and in doing so were able to prevent the rape of an 11-year-old girl.

"We have found that over 79% of the offenders have been known to the victim," said John Ryan of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

Technology has spawned a shocking new demand for child sex abuse, in real time.

"We're seeing a number of instances of live child abuse, that's been streamed over the internet," said ICE's Morton.

"And then transmitting that abuse around the world for either financial gain, or trading and collecting with other predators. So, it's the worst of the worst," said Ryan of the NCMEC.

Women are increasingly the abusers, like this one dubbed Jane Doe. She and this man allegedly molested a young teenage girl and distributed photos of the abuse. The woman has distinctive tattoos.

"We're talking about the sexual abuse, the rape, the molestation of very, very young children who have no ability to speak up for themselves, defend themselves, get to law enforcement," said Morton of ICE.

This man depicted in an Internet video was sexually abusing a pre-pubescent boy. He has a large tattoo on his upper right arm. And this man, also found in an online video, is shown sexually abusing a pre-pubescent toddler.

We put those photographs on our website along with information on where to report any leads you may have to help identify those child predators.